My dear Laela is officially twelve years old today. She is still so little, but also a total grown up. Where has time gone?

In just one year, she has changed in all kinds of ways. Look at that face!!! She is SO much older all of a sudden!! She has her hand in so many activities now. She’s in ballet, volleyball, and piano. She attends two youth groups and she works at the schools concession. There are days we hardly see her, where she eats snacks as she runs between activities, and that ends up being her “meals.” She even RAN the entire route that her school took in honour of Terry Fox. It was 4kms, and she ran it with a friend, from start to finish. In honour of you know who 🥹

I probably couldn’t be a whole lot prouder of her, though I imagine she’ll challenge that again tomorrow, and the next day, and likely the day after that as well. She is incredibly easy to love. Just ask her closest friends, Avery and Jaxon. Lifelong, these friendships 🙌

Laela loves to be one of the adults, helping with the babies, meeting needs she sees, and pitching in humbly and quietly. She aches to lead. But she’s still little, acting scenes out with lego guys and Barbies that Wavy watches in utter amazement. She is a positively delicious middle ground between the two.

A GHOST!

Sweet La, you are SUCH a treasure in our family. Sometimes, at this stage of the game, things get a little extra bumpy, but we come through every single bump better than before! And I’m not being cheeky. I really do mean it. I love getting closer and closer with you 💜 My dear daughter.

I know you’re jazzed to grow up, but please slow it down. I love you right where you are. I’m not sure you could be any more beautiful than you already are, in every way. But again, I imagine you will prove me wrong 💜

Happy birthday, precious Laela. Your birth may have been an absolute nightmare 😅 but I would relive it over and over again if it meant we could know you and love you. Thank you, Lord, for bringing us our sweet Laela Hazel those TWELVE years ago!

Fall joke. Air. Hair. I know, I’m very funny.

🙄

I got my hair refreshed today. Its been a good handful of months since I’ve been to my hair girl, but we absolutely always have fun together. She came in earlier today, because the salon was even open, so I could get things done and be home to receive the kids from school. I brought the drinks and she brought the colors! And, as per usual, she nailed it.

I feel totally fresh and ready for the season ahead. Fall. Family pictures. Christmas.

Bring it on, fall! Carlinna already brought it. You’re up 💜

Home again, home again. The season has run its course, and we are officially back home on the weekends. The last weekend is always bittersweet. We put away all the fun things. Decide what won’t make another season and throw things away. We bicker and clean, only sort of. And we grossly overload the van, wishing we had started a week or two ago, but knowing full well that the things we would bring home early, we would inevitably need and kick ourselves for it. Most importantly, we say goodbyes, which stinks.

But. For all pack up days, this one was pretty smooth. Kids each got their main assigned job to start with, and it was a great kick off! a couple of hours in the morning was all we needed to get the bulk of the work done!! At that point, we stopped for lunch. Our last feed of chunky chicken salad with garlic toast. Check it out, my salad loved me, too!

Babies napped for a bit after lunch, and then we tied up the last few ends. Dekker and Jaxon got the water heater unplugged and put antifreeze through everything.

Beds were packed up. Food was loaded up and hauled out. Golf cart batteries were removed and taken home. The deck roof was braced. Tanks were emptied. We even filled the wood bin. SO much got done!

The van was loaded up before long, and it was time to go. As per usual, our dear Dahlsjos stayed and got us out the door before getting themselves packed up and ready. It is SUCH a treat to see them most every weekend through the summer months 💜 We miss you guys already.

The drive out was quiet. Everyone was so tired. But not in a bad way. In a good, solid “we worked really hard today and its time to go home now” way. The best kind. We stopped for food, and I actually put my feet up, both physically and metaphorically. I felt restful.

Of course, the unloading was less restful, haha! But the most important things got done and the rest can wait. Feet are, once again, going up, and I will rest my body.

Thank you, dear Lord, for yet another beautiful season at the lake. We could not be more grateful for this gift we’ve been given.

As we say every single time we drive out of the campground, byyyyye Kinasao.

It’s our last full day here this summer. It was a really nice one, too. We didn’t work. We played. Rested. Crocheted. Visited. Ate good food. It got dark early in the evening. It felt very, very much like fall. 

Tomorrow we will pack up. If time allows, we will help a bit more with Christmas decorating the camp. We got a little preview of the lights that have been up so far and it’s already so beautiful 😍 but no preview available, sorry! People should just come see it for themselves when the time comes! 

Sleep well, all. Tomorrow we work. But hopefully there is much sleep to be had before that point. 🥱 

It is SO nice to be back at camp. It is our last weekend here for the summer. We will pack up this weekend and say see you later to our precious home away from home. We will be back a few times still this calendar year, but this will be our last weekend in our camper until next May. Bittersweet, for sure. We love it here. We are so fortunate to have a second home at all, much less one quite so beautiful. 

Thank you, Lord. Amen. 

It has been a long time since I spent so much time in the kitchen in one day. It felt both amazing and chaotic. My plan for the day was to cook pumpkins all day long. I have a plan to hoard as much pureed pumpkin as I possibly can in this short season so I am set for baking. I have a growing pile of pumpkins in my kitchen. I was lovingly gifted some home grown sugar pumpkins, which are obviously WAY better than the jack o lantern pumpkins, but alas, those are cheap, readily available, and still good.

All things considered, I cooked up two sugar pumpkins and three carving pumpkins. I scraped them out into a strainer, and from there into a giant bowl. I pureed them in my blender, and scooped them into four cup ish bags that are currently freezing flat in my freezer.

This was honestly not a quick process but it got done and I feel pretty good about it.

For the first time in my life, I decided to actually toast up the seeds. It seemed easy enough, and after a plea for help on Facebook, I learned it is indeed as easy as it seems! I did learn from my first batch, though, and I imagine I’ll go again on my next pumpkin day. Which will likely be early next week.

Did I do it? Toastier, or nah?

In the midst of the GIANT mess I made in the kitchen, I made pizzadillas for supper 🤣 which is a total nothing meal, but I had meat and wraps to use up. They were very well received and everyone ate lots. This made me feel less guilty about staying in the kitchen throughout meal time.

One pumpkin day down, and at least a couple more to go. Hopefully a lot more. I’m excited to get a ton of pumpkin in my freezer and get back into the swing of baking beautiful things for my kids.

It has saved my life to be able to shop at Walmart and Costco from a distance. I used to be a Superstore snob, but delivery has changed 👏 the 👏 GAME! 👏

I made two grocery orders today. One was supposed to come between 12-1, and the other one I gave a wider window, 1-4, in exchange for $2 off. Boom.

And both orders came within 15 minutes of one another 🤣 This has NEVER happened to me. When the Costco delivery guy drove up, I was just getting out to my entrance to gather my Walmart groceries.

And wouldn’t you know it, my Costco guy ran up my ramp and started helping me get everything through the door, into the house, including my Walmart bags. He did not quit until every last thing was inside my front door. Even the pumpkins.

This man did not know my life, and he had no idea what that helping hand meant for me and my energy level.

Guys. Go the extra mile. Just do it. It is SO valuable, and it leaves an impression.

Its trendy to like pumpkin spice. This I know. I’m not mad at it. I wouldn’t turn down a pumpkin spice treat or scent or anything of the like. If I had options, I’d choose a dirty chai latte over a PSL, but both are good.

Yesterday, Cher informed me that she was in possession of pumpkin spice bread. Now, festive or not, I like bread. I’m not a monster. She said it was light and delightful and so pleasantly fallish. And today, she came in the door with some of it, ready to share with me!! Heyooo!!!

When she headed to the kitchen to toast it, I remembered I impulse purchased pumpkin spice cream cheese spread on my last Costco order. I took it out of the fridge, and both of us just stared wide-eyed and the beautiful breakfast we had just discovered we could make.

Yes, I know its just toast, but it was faaaaancy faaaaall toast!

Fall toast that looks like….

Cheez whiz 🤣😅

The aesthetic was not there, but it was still so unbelievably delicious, and we had no regrets. SO light and SO creamy. Not at all overpoweringly sweet, nor did it leave a weird film in my mouth.

Delicious. Yummy. Special. It was fun.

Thanks for Chering 😘

It has officially begun! Ballet is back, baby!!!

Fun fact! In our house, we call is bally. Like, Sally, but bally.

This pair of stone cold weirdos is kicking off yet another season of dance. Laela is the oldest person in the class, but if its anything like last year, her teacher will intentionally teach her more mature things and let her be a leader in some capacity. Because, clearly, she is ultra mature 😎

Wavy came home happy and sun kissed. And Laela didn’t come home because she motored to volleyball practice immediately after ballet was done 😅

I’m really grateful my kids have things they can be in that they’re excited about 💜

We haven’t spent as much time at the beach at all this summer. It hasn’t been beautiful weather, until September, so we did more in the campground than at the water. No loss, though. Fun is always to be had with our group 💜

Today, however, Laela invited me down to the water for a walk. The walk turned into a hunt for cool rocks, with some stone skipping along the way. It was incredibly beautiful. With the docks all brought in, and boats out of the water for the year, the beach itself was full of metal framing, but the water was clear and still. It did not disappoint.

We brought home a cup full of rocks and this particular artifact that we couldn’t quite identify 🤔 Brady is thinking a tire rim or something along those lines. I thought a horse shoe, but maybe its too big? I dont know. Any guesses?

Honourable mention to this rock that was buried just perfectly to look like a goldfish cracker.

I really enjoyed my walk with my girly 💜 She is incredibly precious to me, and these one on one dates are incredibly special and hard to come by. Thanks for inviting me, Lala.

We packed up later this evening than we usually do. After supper. And we got home later than usual also, the van bursting with bawling, overtired babies, and slow moving children. But! They rallied and got everything unloaded and unpacked. I diapered and jammied everyone who needed it, and we prayed, gave hugs, and tucked in the whole gang.

And as per usual, that does not necessarily mean the day is done 😅 But it might juuuuust about be done now! Lol!

I’m so tired. Wish me luck, friends. Our baby has slept all day. Like. ALL day. Hopefully nighttime sleeping is still on the table 😬